Sep 26, 2013 10:39 AM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

If you would like to learn about female writers, contemporary or classic, do not take David Gilmour's literature seminars at the University of Toronto.

In an interview with Hazlitt, a publishing blog on Random House of Canada's website, Gilmour said he will not teach what he does not love. This includes, he said, women - except Virginia Woolf - and Chinese writers.

"I'm not interested in teaching books by women," he said. "Virginia Woolf is the only writer that interests me as a woman writer, so I do teach one of her short stories. But once again, when I was given this job I said I would only teach the people that I truly, truly love. Unfortunately, none of those happen to be Chinese, or women. Except for Virginia Woolf. And when I tried to teach Virginia Woolf, she's too sophisticated, even for a third-year class."

Gilmour was being interviewed as part of a weekly feature that analyzes the collection of books of a particular writer. The lit professor had just released a new novel and was chosen to have his bookshelves displayed. When the topic of his day job came up, he was sure to dish on his teaching methods.

Not only did Gilmour say he would not teach female authors, but he said he exclusively taught "serious heterosexual guys." His favorites, he said include Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry Miller and Phillip Roth, who said are "real guy-guys."

"Usually at the beginning of the semester a hand shoots up and someone asks why there aren't any women writers in the course," Gilmour said. "I say I don't love women writers enough to teach them, if you want women writers go down the hall. What I teach is guys."

Gilmour told the Huffington Post his affinity for male writers does not mean be views female writers less talented.

"That doesn't meant there aren't great women writers," Gilmour said. "[But] the trick in my course is, I want kids to leave my course thinking, 'I want to read more Chekhov, I gotta read more Chekhov.' I can't do that for Alice Munro or Margaret Atwood or any other female writers I admire who are as good as any male writers but who don't speak to me as profoundly."

University of Toronto spokeswoman Jennifer Little, acknowledged Gilmour's teaching method, but said it has nothing to do with the school's views.

"Neither Victoria College nor the University of Toronto endorses the views attributed to David Gilmour in the article," she said. "[Gilmour] teaches elective seminars on his area of expertise, leaving other areas of literature to be taught by colleagues who can do so most effectively based on their areas of specialization."

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